Dear editor
Congratulations on your excellent special annual issue (Jan/Feb 2013) in which business and thought leaders share their insights on the year ahead.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and was impressed by its overall positive tone.
I have one question however – why are there are no manufacturers or retailers in your sample of business leaders? Given the importance of these two sectors to the overall economy (and particularly to employment), why are none included? Will there be another opportunity later in the year for their views to be aired? I have no doubt that if you do interview manufacturers (especially those who export) they will be loud in their protests at the high exchange rate. By the same token, retailers who import most of what they sell will be happy with the exchange rate. Both sets of views will be valuable in helping your readers to understand what lies ahead for our economy.
Thank you in anticipation of hearing the views of these sectors.
Mike Groves – Director of Operations, Auckland University
We will publish this special issue annually from now on, but in December in time for holiday reading. We did invite leaders from every sector to contribute; in future issues we will allow more time to ensure those published are more representative of the total economy and welcome further input regarding what would make the publication more valuable to readers, including individuals you would like to hear from. We intend to revisit thought leaders in our mid-year Leadership issue in July for brief follow-up on how the year is panning out. We can then specifically target the manufacturing, retail, import and export sectors. – Publisher
